1.45pm BST

Malaysian city tells women to drop lipstick and high heels

Women in a northern Malaysian city ruled by conservative Islamists are being urged to forsake bright lipstick and noisy high heels in an effort to preserve their dignity and avoid rape.

Authorities in Kota Bharu have distributed pamphlets recommending that Muslim women do not wear heavy makeup and loud shoes when they go out to work in restaurants or other public places.

But municipal officials in Kota Bharu, capital of Kelantan state which is run by the hardline Pan-Malaysian Islamic party, stressed that the code was not an edict, merely advice for women wishing to follow the "Islamic way".

The party's brand of Islam - mocked by Malaysian liberals as "Taliban Lite" - has already decreed that supermarkets must a have separate lines for men and women at checkouts, and beaches should be segregated.

Couples caught sitting too close together on park benches are hunted down by the city's moral enforcers and fined up to £285 in the city's Sharia courts.

But the only directive on dress came a decade ago when it was ordered Muslim women must wear non-transparent headscarves that cover the chest, along with loose-fitting, long-sleeved blouses.

Violators face a fine of up to £75 and as many as 20 women are punished for breaking the rule every month.

Azman Mohamad Daham, a spokesman for Kota Bharu municipality, said the latest suggestion contained in leaflets was part of a two-year old campaign.

"We just distribute pamphlets," he said. "Our minimum guideline is [women] must wear headscarves. The rest is up to them. If they want to follow the 100% Islamic way, it's up to them."

The goal of the modesty drive was to prevent rape and safeguard the women's dignity, he said.

It advises that women should refrain from using heavy makeup, particularly bright lipstick. Loud high-heel shoes should also be avoided, though if women insisted on wearing them the heels could be padded with rubber to mute the sound.

Two-thirds of Malaysians are Malay Muslim, while the other ethnic groups - mainly Chinese and Indians - follow other faiths.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party scored a huge success in the general election three months ago, winning an unprecedented number of seats that propelled it out of its Kelantan backwater powerbase on to the national political stage.